And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luk 9:23 (crosswalk 2004)

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Rich Mullins: Gay's and Christians...

Well this is kind of a long entry, but it is worth the read... God Bless...

I remember one time, Beaker and I were hiking in the Appalachian trail and he met some friends of his and they all went in... (Rich immediately rewords himself)... they were all talking about school which I didn't want to talk about because I've been in school for so many years it's not interesting any more... (Rich pauses while audience laughs)... and uh, of course that happened after third grade... (more laughter from audience as Rich continues)... so I walked into town. It was about a five mile walk from the campsite down in... down the trail... down into town... and when I got there, I went in and was having a steak, and this guy started talking to me and we had this great conversation; we were having a good time and he said, "Hey look, it's dark and it's five miles up the road to your campground. Why don't I drive you up there?"
And I said, "Hey, great!"
And uh, so we got in his car and just as we pulled out from under the uh, last light in that town the guy said, "You know what, I should probably tell you that I'm gay."
And I said, "Oh! I should probably tell you that I am a Christian."
(audience applauds, but Rich continues...)
"...and Christians and gays are really a lot more alike than most people think."
And he said, "Well, what do you mean?"
And I said, "Well, I think that gay people are people who desperately need to be loved. And I think Christian people are pretty much the same."
(audience applauds loudly)
And he said, "Well if you want out of the car..."
I said, "Why?"
And he said, "Well, I'm gay and your Christian."
I said, "It's still five miles and it's still dark." I'm not crazy.
(laughter from audience)
And he said, "I thought Christians hated gays."
I said, "That's funny, I thought Christians were supposed to love. I thought that was our first command." (audience applauds loudly again)
He said, "Well, I thought God hated gays."
I said, "That's really funny, because I thought God was love."
And He said, "Well uh, do you think uh, God sent AIDS down to punish gay people?"
And I said, "Well, in the same sense that he sends bankruptcy on farmers and presidents on voters."
(audience laughs at presidential remark and Rich pauses before saying...)
"...that there are consequences for our choices and sometimes we have to bear the consequence of other people's choices."
And then he asked me the big one. He said, "Do you think I will go to hell for being a gay?"
Well, I'm a good Hoosier... (audience laughs) ...and I puckered up to say, "Yes, of course you'll go to hell for being gay." Now folks, I will tell you the truth. I got ready to say, "Yes, of course you'll go to hell for being gay," and when I opened up my mouth it came out, "No,... of course you won't go to hell for being gay." And I thought, "Oh my god, I've only been in New Hampshire for one week and I've already turned into a liberal." ...(audience roars out loud in laughter)... What am I going to tell this guy now?
You know there are times when we think we are God's messengers, when we think we are the mouthpiece of God. And God really needs fewer mouths than he needs ears... (audience cheers approvingly)... And there are times when we think we've got it all together. And we meet somebody. And they ask us the right questions. And we get to find out something about God that we learned when we were little because our moms and dads read it to us, and because they took us to Sunday school and we were told over and over the great truths of the scriptures. But we forget them because we get all caught up in how cool we are.
(Getting back to his story, Rich concludes...)
I said, "No, you won't go to hell for being gay any more than I would go to hell for being a liar. That nobody goes to hell because of what they do. We go to hell because we reject the grace that God so longs to give to us... (audience applauds)... regardless of what we do."

4 Comments:

4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 WHO WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:

Dear Commenter, I 100% agree with you with the verses that you have supplied, but these types of folks just wont accept a Bible verse which says their wrong. No matter how many verse you supply. I have just spent the last few days standing up for my Lord on a You-Tube site against these guys. See; http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=J2KOCgC8DnU

Dear Commenter, I 100% agree with you with the verses that you have supplied, but these types of folks just wont accept a Bible verse which says their wrong. No matter how many verse you supply. I have just spent the last few days standing up for my Lord on a You-Tube site against these guys. See; http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=J2KOCgC8DnU

I think Mullins was saying that according to sin all are condemned, and those that don't deal with that directly but instead shuffle it off by thinking 'at least I'm not gay' will have a rude awakening in the day of judgement. Whatever the sin it has to be brought to Jesus